Jack's Blessing Day

Remeber that super cute nephew of ours born on October 10th?

The same one whose mom went into labor at the temple?

Last Sunday (Nov. 15th) Tyson and I went to little Jack's blessing.

It was really nice being able to have the blessing at Tyson's parents' house.

Erika's siblings and their families, along with Erika's parents, were able to come.

On the Miller side, all but Tacie and Ryan were able to make it.

It was a very nice day, and we're so glad we could be there for it!

***

There was a nice program along with Jack's blessing. We had an opening song, an opening prayer by Steve, Dustin did a little devotional, then Erika and I sang a duet of "Come Unto Jesus." It was fun being able to sing with her. She has an amazing voice.

Jack & I

He's so sweet!

Steve & Angie's daughter, Kate, looking at a book

Cousins
Cooper holding Jack


Easton & Jack

Time to eat!

The boys went right over to get food.

A cake for the babies

Erika's sisters Dana and Alisha had their babies Saydie and Andy blessed that day as well.

What a great day!

Moms & babies

Dana & Saydie, Erika & Jack, Alisha & Andy

Getting ready to cut the cake

There were little toy babies on the cake. I'm pretty sure Dustin was telling Cooper to lick the frosting off the bum ha ha.

Clark's wife, Kristi, holding their daughter, Bailey.

Steve's wife, Angie, holding their daughter, Kate.

Tyson's mom cutting the cake

Gramps (Tyson's dad) & Clark holding Saydie & Bailey

Erika & Dustin scooping ice cream

Reed's ice cream, of course.

Grandma & Grandpa Miller with all the grand kids.

It wouldn't be a grand kids picture without at least one meltdown! In this case it was Lillie.

Memories!

Tyson's Grandma Clawson holding Jack

One cute little family!

Dustin & Erika with their kids Lillie & Jack

Cory + Hailey = Married

Our friends

Cory and Hailey

from Carino's were married

November 13th.

Tyson and I went to the reception with Che' and Amber. It was fun being able to see so many Carino's friends - some that we currently work with and others that we haven't seen in years. And of course, I didn't get enough pictures of the oldies. But I was able to get a few of some familiar faces.

Congratulations, Cory and Hailey! We sure do love you guys!

Cutting the cake

I loved their colors. They were all the super dark fall colors, and they worked really well together.

I was surprised Cory didn't shove cake in Hailey's face.
Then Hailey said he didn't want to get any on his tux so he held back ha ha.


The happy couple's first dance

Me & Ashley

I love this girl!

Amy & Amber, my wonderful sisters

Ashley & Erica

Two of my favorite people!

Picture This...

You're sitting at a computer in the school library

(or some other public place with a lot of people)

and you're munching on a few of these:

(almonds)

And then you have to sneeze.

So you plan to sneeze into your arm
(which is what we've been told to do instead of into our hands to prevent spreading germs).

But you know that the little particles of almond in your mouth
aren't completely gone.

And before you can keep from sneezing to avoid an almond chunk spray disastrous situation...
it happens.

The big sneeze.

And the particles of almond going EVERYWHERE.

And your sleeve...

...well...
Let's just say it has some almond particles on it.

And when I say "some" I really mean "a lot" and "gross."

That just happened to me.
And people are still staring.

Good times in the library!

image via aidanbrooksspices.blogspot.com

Sunbeam Sayings

Tyson and I were put in as teachers for one of the sunbeam classes in our ward in May. And we have loved it! There are nine kids in our class and they're hilarious.

I want to be able to remember some of the super funny things these kids say in class. So the following are some of the hilarious things that come out of these four-year-olds' mouths.

PS - Even though there isn't anything embarassing or bad they have said, the names have still been changed. :)

Scenario #1

On Saturday we had a primary activity at the Idaho Falls Temple Visitors Center. It was a lot of fun, and almost the entire primary showed up. The Sunday before was pretty humorous when the primary president was giving instructions. She said that the kids needed to be on their best behavior at the temple and be sure to wear their dress up clothes. The following is the conversation I had with one of our sunbeams, Angie.

Angie: Oh no, I can't wear my dress-up clothes. I'm grounded from the basement! [Angie thought dress-up clothes meant princess outfits and other clothes to play dress-up in.]
Me: [trying not to laugh] Well I think it will be ok if you wear one of your dresses you wear to church on Sunday.
Angie: Ok, I'll do that.

Scenario #2

Later that day in class we were done with the lesson and playing with Play Doh. We normally bring dum dum suckers for the kids. They love them. They each had a dum dum, then they wanted to have another. It was nearing the end of the class at this time. This scenario involves Angie again.

---

Angie: Can we have another dum dum?

Me: No, the dum dums are put away. You guys have plenty of Halloween candy at home.

Angie: I can't eat my Halloween candy, I'm grounded from it.

Me: [failing to keep back the laugh after hearing she was grounded from the basement earlier] What did you do to get grounded?

Angie: I don't know.

---

Scenario #3

During a lesson a few weeks ago we taught about being honest. We talked about what it meant to be honest and that Heavenly Father and Jesus are very happy when we are honest. Some of the the examples we gave were how they're being honest if they don't take a cookie Mom bakes when she tells them they can't have one till after dinner. Or if they break something they should tell Mom, even if it is hard to tell her that they broke something. After a few of our own examples we went around the group and had them tell about a time when they were honest. This was Taylor's story (or as close as we can get it).

---

Taylor: [standing up with one finger in the air, eye brows in a scowl and eyes looking in all directions] My brother [who is two]...once he took an apple when my mom said he couldn't have one.

Tyson: So he wasn't being very honest, huh.

Taylor: [as dramatically as before] And then...my brother...[he also has a tough time with his R's so it sounded more like "bruddow"-Tyson and I are chuckling at this point] he put the apple on the floor and left it there. So he littered.

Tyson: [Laughing out loud at this point and wanting Taylor to just keep talking because he's so funny] Was there a time when you were honest, Taylor?

Taylor: Well my brother...he took a cookie when he wasn't supposed to. And he didn't even eat it.

---

Scenario #4

There was a boy in our class who had been sick for a couple of weeks. It was his first day back since being sick and he was telling us all about it while we were playing with Play Doh.

---

Charlie: I had to go to the doctor because my ula was sick. [He meant "uvula".]

---

Later on he told us more about how he was sick, but how he was throwing up. He got into a lot of detail ha ha. Then he went around (literally walked around to each kid) and asked them if they had ever "frowed up" before. We got to learn all about these kids' sick days! Angie's was my favorite response.

---

Angie: I haven't throwed up since I first lived. [Meaning when she was a baby.]

---

Scenario#5

One girl named Elizabeth is so funny to talk to. And she really likes to talk! During singing time on Sunday she was asking me questions about my name.

---

Elizabeth: What is your first name?

Me: Alli

Elizabeth: What is your last name?

Me: Miller

Elizabeth: What is your middle name?

Me: Kaye

Elizabeth: Oh. That means you are my friend Alli. I have two friends named Alli.

---

Later on in class she had gotten all the names mixed up. She called me Alli at first (the rest call me Sister Miller) and then she started calling me "Miller." I think she was a little confused.

And this summer she told us this story:

---

Elizabeth: One time I was playing at the park and I fell down. There was blood gushing out of my head.

---

This story led to stories from all the other kids about blood gushing out of everywhere from other minor injuries they've had ha ha.

***

We get a kick out of these kids! There isn't a week that goes by where we aren't just laughing in class. Sometimes we just let them keep giving us example stories so we can hear their funny renditions. We love our calling!

Miss Hillcrest Pageant

Last night my cousin

Chloe

participated in the

Miss Hillcrest Pageant

and took

1st Runner-Up

***

She also won awards for self-expression and interview. She is so talented!

And speaking of talents, her talent for the competition was harp/vocal. She wrote a song about a special needs class she peer tutors for, and it was so pretty.

We are so proud of you, Chloe! Congratulations!

Amy, Britney, Chloe, me & Amber

Chloe & our cousin, Hannah.

I wanted a good picture of Chloe's dress, it was so fun and different from the other girls.

I Think...

...I felt the baby moving today. I felt something that didn't feel like hunger or gas, it was more like little flutteries. It has been so fun to feel that sensation! (If that's what it is, anyway ha ha)

***

And here we are at 14 weeks!

Today was my first appointment in my second trimester. It feels good to be over the first one! I went to the doctor knowing that I would be getting a routine check-up. I saw the PA Scott today instead of Dr. Leavitt. But I was really happy to have Scott today. He is a good friend from the old Carino's days. He started going through the routine questions and making sure all was well. When he asked me if I had any questions I immediately started to cry. And out of nowhere! Being pregnant has been a very emotional time. And today, all I could think about was hearing the baby's heartbeat. I felt like I needed it. It wasn't in the plan, but after my minor breakdown Scott took me in for an ultrasound. And it was wonderful! The baby was moving around like crazy and looked so amazing. We're going to have quite the active baby. Its little heart rate was at a great level. "Right where we need it to be," is how Scott put it. He printed off a couple of pictures for me and sent me on my way. It was a neat experience that I really needed. I sure do love our baby.

***

My next appointment will be December 21st where I will have a routine check-up and hopefully find out what we're having. I'm so excited! And I'll be graduated by then so things will be even better.

In this picture you can see a side profile of the baby and his or her arm up by the head. This one is my favorite so far.

This is a full lenghth shot. I love the little hand and foot!

Another Blast from the Past

Last week Amber and I went out to dinner with our friend

Rachel

Like a lot of our friends from high school, we hadn't seen Rachel in a super long time. So the three of us got together and went to dinner at Carino's last Monday.

Rachel is having a baby in December and we're so excited for her! Her younger sister, Lyndsi, is having a baby a couple months after her (as most of you already know.) We're so thrilled for the both of them! We sure do love those Struhs girls.

It was so fun being able to see Rachel! We need to get together more often.

Our Halloween Party

Tyson & I threw a party on Halloween and it was a lot of fun. We had lots of good food and carved pumpkins with some of our favorite people.

Some of the decor for the party

I made some chocolate cookies with candy corn kisses on the top.

We moved things around to fit an extra table in the dining room.

I had Tyson pose for me.

We finally got to bring the ghost out to put the candy in. This little guy has been in the family since I was younger and going trick-or-treating.

Time to carve pumpkins!

Tyson was a trooper and dug out all the "stuff" inside.

Britney, Aaron, Amber & Che' carving their pumpkins.

Dustin & Erika carving their pumpkin.

Everybody carving pumpkins.

Amber & Che'

Aaron & Britney

Tyson & I

Amy & her friend Bridget came over.

We didn't recognize them in their costumes!

Our finished product




All the pumpkins, and a close-up of our masterpiece.

All of our pumpkins.

They all turned out great!

After pumpkins we played Sing Star.

Tyson & Che' kicked it off with a nice duet ha ha.


Tyson & I singing a duet

Battle of the Holidays

After school last night I stopped at my parents' house for a visit. When I left their house I drove down the street, and when I got closer to the beginning of their neighborhood I noticed something.

There was a house that looked something like this:

And right next door to that house, a house that looked something like this:

Obviously these aren't the actual houses I saw, I just found these on flickr.com. But you get the idea.

The thought that immediately came to mind when I came upon these two houses was,

"Talk about battle of the holidays."

Then I got to thinking about how this happens every year. And honestly, it kind of bugs. A lot of people forget that Christmas doesn't come after Halloween.

Thanksgiving does.

Yes, that's right. There is in fact another holiday that comes before Christmas. And it's a big one, too. It is one that most of us look forward to right along with Christmas every year. It is the second of the three big holidays that close out the year.

So that means you get to keep your super cute fall stuff out for one more month before the Christmas decorations come out.

I have a lot of friends that get super excited for Christmas right after Halloween so they pull out all the Christmas music. Fine. But it's when the radio stations start forcing the rest of us who don't want to listen to Christmas music till after Thanksgiving to listen that irritates me. Yes, there are ways around it. Put in a CD, change the station...

But really, is it seriously Christmas time?

Nope. It's Thanksgiving.

***

I don't really want to see Christmas lights and blow-up Santas or Snowmen in front of houses. At least not till November 27th.

But a blow-up turkey or pilgrim would be great.

Stow Away

So here's what happened to me today.

I was on my way to school this morning driving down the highway approaching Rigby. I had just hung up the phone with my mom when out of the corner of my eye I saw something that looked about like this:

A freaky black spider was coming down from a string of web right next to my face. I am so scared of spiders!! It was pretty much the scariest thing ever. So of course I'm swerving all over the road while trying to keep my head away from this thing. At the same time I was trying to find something to knock the thing away. The first thing I saw was a pair of gloves, so I used it to detach the web and the spider. Then I threw the gloves on the passenger seat floor. The spider didn't even go with the gloves, so who knows where it landed!

I drove to school with a spider in my car. And it was so freaky! I didn't know where it was the entire time. When I got to school I searched around for a bit, but I had no luck in finding it. I felt like it was on me all day.

A spider was in my car. Gross. And this week I even had a thougth about what I'd do if a spider came running up my sleeve or something while I was driving. I don't think I'd survive to tell that tale. Needless to say, I'm a little scared to drive my car right now!

image via hat.net